Industry scouts for digital disrupters at graduate show

A growing number of major Australian companies are supporting the University of Sydney's annual Design Lab Graduate Show to snap up the brightest emerging talent for the new era of digital disruption.

This year's show will see 57 students from the Bachelor of Design Computing and Master of Interaction Design & Electronic Arts (MIDEA) courses present their ideas and design challenges across robotics and drones, mobile apps, 3D modelling, interactive digital installations and wearable technology.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Commonwealth Bank, Deloitte Digital and IBM have joined other user-experience (UX) industry supporters to sponsor the 2015 graduate show, 'Anthelion', which opens at the University of Sydney's Tin Sheds Gallery on 26 November.

The exhibition is the final showcase of work by the students and will represent the intersection of design and technology — considered a pivotal skillset in today's UX industry that is driving digital innovation.

“As technology becomes embedded in the world around us, how we experience the world and do business is being reconstructed through the lens of technology," said University of Sydney Head of Design Lab and Director of Design Computing Associate Professor Martin Tomitsch.

“Our students have the design thinking and technical skills that can reshape the way we interact with our physical, social and cultural environment."

PwC's Dr Crighton Nichols, who leads the innovation team in PwC's internal core technologies group, said the graduates are well equipped to contribute to today's digital world, in which user experience is critical.

“Digital disruption is transforming the way PwC works with our clients. Our engagements are more collaborative and informed by data, often from multiple sources that need to be consolidated. The resulting insights then need to be communicated clearly, which requires creative data visualisation to be truly effective," said Nichols.

“The ability to take a design-thinking approach to working with clients to understand the problem space and then iterate through possible solutions using lean, agile methodologies is essential to achieving our vision to solve complex problems that are important to society," said PwC Innovator & Enterprise Architect Dr Crighton Nichols.

Among some of the ideas on show, which may one day become a part of how people experience the world, are Waterbender, a smart home app to track and control water usage; Home Command, an app for automated home devices controlling lighting, doors and alarms; You're the Superhero, a fun interactive installation for children in hospital to assist with their recovery; and KneeTech, a wearable device that monitors patient progress after anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery.

Event details

What Anthelion: Design Lab Graduate Show
Where Tin Sheds Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, 148 City Road, Darlington
When 26–28 November 2015 (industry opening by invitation: 25 November)
Gallery Hours Tuesday–Friday, 11 am–4 pm

Image courtesy of Rohann Dorabjee, Design Computing (Honours) student, University of Sydney.